Open World Roleplaying

[Imperatus Rex]

We all enjoy to sit back and enjoy the story of the vagabonds, right? They wander and find new and exciting things, maybe even a dungeon crawler element is in place. How efficient is it to make an rp where the players aren't affected by a "Grand Plot" hanging high above their heads? Would it be okay to have sub-plots to compensate, like quests? Here are some elements that I personally like to see in an open world rp, but they could be a GM's nightmare if they can't keep up.

• Procedural Generated areas, with a map that is updated after they discover new places.
• Little to nothing that classifies as a "Grand Plot", something that takes a long winded scheme and ends the story.
• Heavy environment detail and elaborate dialogue.
• A realism based combat system, you don't simply shake off a blow to the neck.
• Small player count (5 max).

Again, these are my personal preference. I would like to know if there are any loopholes or techniques that would make it better or easier, considering the amount of creativity on these forums.

 

[Nilum]

How efficient is it to make an rp where the players aren't affected by a "Grand Plot" hanging high above their heads?

You don't even need to procedural generate content ala computer. In fact, this is one of the easiest story archetypes to do.

#1: Make a village.
#2: Fill the village with stuff. Before you make your village, ask your players what kind of stuff they want to do.
#3: Every time your players make a decision and go somewhere, build up that somewhere with stuff they want to do.

The end.

No, really, it's that easy. All you need are players who are eager to go places and who take the initiative. If you don't have that, your little sandbox role play will die. From there you can build it into a running plot line, or have a series of one-off adventures with side characters who come and go, but with the same central characters (much like, say, Star Trek).

Your players might stay in the village, or they might leave the village. If they leave the village, describe where they're going, and describe more stuff for them to do. Your entire objective as a GM of something open ended like this is to provide an endless heap of distractions and opportunities for the players to accomplish. Every time they go somewhere, make something happen. If they aren't too interested in it, wrap it up quickly and move onto the next thing--just be sure to keep asking your players from time to time what kind of stuff they want to do. If your players don't know, offer suggestions.

These types of role plays also benefit from letting players take more control over world building. Let them mention an ancient conflict or feuding rich families and what not. Players with initiative need to be there or this whole thing will collapse.

Oh, and you will have more plot holes than with a grand, overarching plot line. Kind of inevitable, really, but so long as you're enjoying yourself, that's what matters.

 

[glmstr]

I personally am a sucker for vagabond style RPs, where the party sorta wanders aimlessly through smaller sub-arcs.

 

[Imperatus Rex]

No, really, it's that easy. All you need are players who are eager to go places and who take the initiative. If you don't have that, your little sandbox role play will die. From there you can build it into a running plot line, or have a series of one-off adventures with side characters who come and go, but with the same central characters (much like, say, Star Trek).

Your players might stay in the village, or they might leave the village. If they leave the village, describe where they're going, and describe more stuff for them to do. Your entire objective as a GM of something open ended like this is to provide an endless heap of distractions and opportunities for the players to accomplish. Every time they go somewhere, make something happen. If they aren't too interested in it, wrap it up quickly and move onto the next thing--just be sure to keep asking your players from time to time what kind of stuff they want to do. If your players don't know, offer suggestions.

These types of role plays also benefit from letting players take more control over world building. Let them mention an ancient conflict or feuding rich families and what not. Players with initiative need to be there or this whole thing will collapse.

Oh, and you will have more plot holes than with a grand, overarching plot line. Kind of inevitable, really, but so long as you're enjoying yourself, that's what matters.

That is a very helpful summary of it. I suppose I was over-complicating it. So... the actual strength of the roleplay is on the shoulders of the players initiative... I need to realize that more often. The players are the ones that want to play the story, after all.

I personally am a sucker for vagabond style RPs, where the party sorta wanders aimlessly through smaller sub-arcs.

I am with you on that one, it allows a lot of freedom to adventure as you please. My main go-to is usually a Vagabond based theme.

 

[Jomber]

I've used pre-set rules like Pathfinder for all the combat stuff, and a piece of paper for a map. For my worlds, there's main areas, a conflict that runs in the background, but it really is up to the players what they do or how they tackle the situation. Then fill in the details as needed. You're not going to know every single detail of a town, especially one that you had to plop down in a hurry because the players wanted to go in a completely different direction. Damn their free will. Generally I have a rough outline for a place, like "mining outpost" or "trading hub," when players look at something such as a map. Not every place needs to have some kind of event or problem, but throwing them in once and while will keep a carrot in front of players if they are so inclined. What I do recommend is have a global issue. Like, a powerful dragon that the kingdom has to give tribute to or face its wrath. Something like that to keep the world interesting at least, and an ultimate goal for the party at most. How they get there is up to them of course, or even if they want to face the threat.

I highly agree with players with a high initiative though. I've seen many RPs die because nobody wanted to crawl out of their shell, or were expecting someone else to create drama.

 

[Imperatus Rex]

I've used pre-set rules like Pathfinder for all the combat stuff, and a piece of paper for a map. For my worlds, there's main areas, a conflict that runs in the background, but it really is up to the players what they do or how they tackle the situation. Then fill in the details as needed. You're not going to know every single detail of a town, especially one that you had to plop down in a hurry because the players wanted to go in a completely different direction. Damn their free will. Generally I have a rough outline for a place, like "mining outpost" or "trading hub," when players look at something such as a map. Not every place needs to have some kind of event or problem, but throwing them in once and while will keep a carrot in front of players if they are so inclined. What I do recommend is have a global issue. Like, a powerful dragon that the kingdom has to give tribute to or face its wrath. Something like that to keep the world interesting at least, and an ultimate goal for the party at most. How they get there is up to them of course, or even if they want to face the threat.

I highly agree with players with a high initiative though. I've seen many RPs die because nobody wanted to crawl out of their shell, or were expecting someone else to create drama.

Having a rough outline would help a lot. As for combat, I tend to pay homage to Dwarf Fortress and their body part targeting system. TKO is the best KO. Usually I just make towns on the fly, but having a primitive map to reference would help tremendously and reduce plot-holes and lack of detail hopefully.

 

[Jomber]

Hee hee. Dwarf Fortress. That combat system is brutal. Had all my limbs ripped off by a giant snake before I bled to death. I don't think you can emulate such a system within a roleplay with a set of rules though. Not easily anyways. You can always go for the freeform way, and just tell the players that the world is more gritty-death-comes-easily type of roleplay. You gotta have some trust in the players.